Sensex, Nifty End Volatile Budget-Day Session Lower As L&T, Bharti Airtel Drag: Market Wrap

Indian benchmark stock indices ended the volatile trading session lower on Thursday, led by losses in Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., and Bajaj Finance Ltd.

The NSE Nifty 50 settled 28.25 points, or 0.13%, lower at 21,697.45, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 106.81 points, or 0.15%, to end at 71,645.30. The Nifty fell to an intraday low of 21,658.75, and the Sensex touched a low of 71,574.89.

On the day of the Interim Budget 2024, surprisingly, the benchmark indices saw range-bound activity, with the Nifty closing 28 points lower while the Sensex was down 107 points, according to Shrikant S. Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.

"The interim budget was the much anticipated non-event, which was seen through tight market movements as the index oscillated in a narrow range to settle the day lower at 21,697.45 with a loss of 28.25 points," Aditya Gaggar, director from Progressive Shares, said.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., UltraTech Cements Ltd., and Titan Company Ltd. weighed on the benchmark indices.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., and State Bank of India limited losses to the benchmark indices.

On the NSE, of the total 12 sectors, six sectors ended in green, while the remaining ended in the red. The Nifty PSU Bank surged 3.11% to become the top performer among its peer sectoral indices.

"Among sectors, the PSU Bank index was the biggest gainer, rising over 3%, while profit-booking was seen in digital and metal stocks, resulting in a decline of over 1% in both indices," Chouhan said.

The Nifty Media shed 1.09% to become the worst performer among sectoral indices.

Broader markets underperformed benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Midcap ended with 0.40% loss and the S&P BSE Smallcap closed 0.22% lower on Thursday.

On the BSE, 12 indices out of 20 declined, and the rest gained. The S&P BSE Telecommunication fell the most among sectoral indices.

"Divergence was seen in the broader markets where midcaps corrected and moved in tandem with the benchmark index while smallcaps ended in the green," Gaggar said.

Market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers. Around 2,020 stocks fell, 1,818 stocks rose, and 105 stocks remained unchanged on the BSE.